women, 4, 126
Algonquin Round Table, 23, 55, 56,
Augustin, Genevieve “Jean,” 90–91, 93
126
Auntie Mame,
178–79
Ali Baba Goes to Town,
88–89
American Guild of Variety Artists,
Baker, Josephine, 63, 65, 176
159–60
Balanchine, George, 60–61, 65, 113
The American Language
(Mencken),
Balliett, Whitney, 97, 174
104
Ball of Fire,
127
American Mercury,
118–19
Barthes, Roland, 5
Ames, Elisabeth, 101
Batman,
181
Atkinson, Brooks, 101, 108, 118, 124,
Battle of Broadway,
93
174
Beaux Arts Ball, 80–81
audiences and fans: American
versus
Belle of the Yukon,
147, 148–49
European, 164–65; Burlesque, 25,
Berlin, Irving, 141
53–54; giving them what they
Between the Covers,
150
want, 71, 76–78, 107–8; Gypsy’s
Billboard,
57
211
Index
Blitzstein, Marc, 77, 101, 158, 179
La Guardia and, 32, 84, 96, 165;
Blondell, Joan, 143, 144
in the Midwest, 23–30, 31, 35;
Bochert, Charles, 80
and Minsky’s, 32–35, 40–41; and
The Body Beautiful
(Rossen), 58
striptease, 1, 24, 33–34, 92; unions,
Bolger, Ray, 61
159–60; writers/intellectuals and,
Boston, Gypsy banned from, 40–41
23–24, 49–51.
See also
striptease
Boston Daily Record,
41
Burlesque,
100
Boston Post,
143
Burlesque Artists’ Association, 53
Braun, Eddy, 40
Brecht, Bertolt, 77, 179
café society, 54–55
Breen, Joseph, 86, 87
Café Society (nightclub), 55, 97
Brice, Fanny, 19, 41, 58, 65, 66, 71,
Candygirl: A Year in the Life of an
136
Unlikely Stripper
(Hunt), 6
Bridges, Harry, 121
Cantor, Eddie, 88
British War Relief, 119
Capalbo, Carmen, 179
Broadway and off-Broadway:
Auntie
carnivals, 11,
152,
153–55
Mame,
178–79;
Burlesque,
100; cos-
Casino de Paree, 41
tumes, 82, 132–33;
Darling, Dar-
CBS television variety show, 151–52
ling,
156;
Du Barry Was A Lady,
censorship, 86–87, 88, 96, 140,
101, 102;
Gypsy
(musical), 10,
167,
148–49, 151–52, 165–66
168–74; Gypsy imitators, 58–59,
Chase, Stanley, 179
60–61, 83–84, 141–42, 150,
Chase, Stuart, 104
170–71;
Happy Hunting,
163–64;
Chatfield-Taylor, Otis, 74–75
Hot-Cha,
36–37;
Melody,
37–38;
Chauncey, George, 59
The Naked Genius,
142–45, 156;
Cheever, John, 59, 133
“Of Thee I Spend,” 70–71,
72;
Chicago Daily Tribune,
81, 87
Star and Garter,
129–33,
130;
“A
Chicago Tribune,
168
Stripteaser’s Education” (Gypsy’s
“Christmas on the Keith Family Cir-
signature number), 62–63, 66–69,
cuit” (Lee), 125–26
71, 73, 131, 133–34;
Threepenny
Church, Sandra, 170
Opera,
179;
Twentieth Century,
156;
Churchill, Allen, 167–68
The Women,
156; Ziegfeld Follies
civil rights, 78
(1936), 62–73,
64
Clamage, Ed, 158
burlesque: Casino de Paree, 41;
Clark, Bobby, 71,
72,
107
costumes, 28–29, 45, 46; Gypsy’s
Clark, Gladys, 27
arrest, 34–35; Gypsy’s first bur-
Coca, Imogene, 58
lesque scene, 25; at Irving Place
Cody, Diablo, 6
Burlesque Theatre, 43–49, 53–54;
Cohn, Art, 109, 136
212
Index
collages, 136–37
Eisenstadt, Alfred, 74, 155
Collier’s,
75
Elisofon, Eliot, 122, 156, 160
Collyer, Martin, 34
Eltinge, Julian, 59
Columbia, David Patrick, 175
Emerson, Faye, 155
Communists, 52–53, 96–97, 97–98,
Ernst, Max, 134, 136, 137–38
121, 157–59
Erskine, John, 7
Cooper, Gary, 127
Corio, Ann, 34
Fadiman, Clifton, 124, 152
costumes, 28–29, 45, 46, 82, 132–33,
Farrar, John and Margaret, 37
149, 157
Faye, Joey, 107
Crane, Hart, 22
Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women
Crowther, Bosley, 144
and the Rise of Raunch Culture
“A Curious Evening with Gypsy
(Levy), 7
Rose Lee,” 174
female impersonation, 59–60
feminism, 5, 7, 43–44, 47
Daché, Lily, 105–6
Fiske, Dwight, 55–56, 60
Daily News,
84, 124
Flanner, Janet, 12, 113
Daily Worker,
84, 124
Formfit Merchandise Clinic, 163
Dali, Salvador and Gala, 99–100
Fosse, Bob, 173
Damn Yankees,
173
Fractured Flickers,
181
Darling, Darling,
156
Fried, Albert, 36
Davis, George, 19–20, 60, 113, 125,
179
Gershwin, George, 65, 70, 71
Davis, Richard Dixie, 37
Geva, Tamara, 61
de Diego, Julio, 160–62
Gilbert, Allan, 45
Dews, Carlos, 114
Gilbert, Douglas, 24, 94
Dickstein, Samuel, 85
Gilbert, Edwin, 62–63
Dies Committee, 98
Gingold, Hermione, 155
Doll Face,
143
Gosford, Earl of, 73–74
domestic arts, 155–56
Great Depression, 29–30, 31, 46, 55
Drutman, Irving, 38
Group Theatre, 76
Du Barry Was A Lady,
101, 102
The G-String Murders
(Lee),
112,
Duke, Vernon, 65
116, 119–20, 122–24, 125, 126,
127, 139, 145
Early Havoc
(Havoc), 174
Guggenheim, Peggy, 134, 137
Ebersole, Christine, 170
Gypsy
(autobiography), 166–68
ecdysis/ecdysiast, 104–5
Gypsy
(musical), 10,
167,
168–74
Eco, Umberto, 7
Gypsy Rose Lee Show,
180–81
213
Index
Halem, Red Tova, 53
Hovick, June.
See
Havoc, June
Happy Hunting,
163–64
(Gypsy’s sister)
Harper’s Bazaar,
56, 113, 126
Hovick, Rose (Mama Rose): child-
Hart, Lorenz, 61, 117, 118
hood, 14–15; companion’s suicide
Harvard Lampoon,
41
scandal, 90–91, 93; complaint let-
Harvey, James, 61
ters to Gypsy, 94, 149–50; death
Havoc, June (Gypsy’s sister): child-
of, 162; and decline of burlesque,
hood, 12, 15–16, 18; as director,
92–93; Gypsy and June’s births and
156, 179;
Early Havoc,
174; elope-
childhood, 11, 12–13, 15–16,
ment, 20, 78–79; on Gypsy, 19, 40,
18–19; Gypsy on, 12–13, 145–46,
53–54; on Mizzy, 91, 120–21;
More
162, 184; and Gypsy’s striptease
Havoc,
40, 185, 186; portrayal of, in
act, 10, 13, 27, 35, 184; at Gypsy’s
Gypsy,
168, 169; roles, 16, 117; and
weddings, 93, 135; homes, 42; as
Rose, 12, 42, 78–79, 92, 94, 117,
homosexual, 42, 180; and June, 12,
185–86; on Todd, 110
42, 78–79, 92, 94, 117, 185–86;
Hawks, Howard, 126–27
magazine article by, 146–47; mar-
Hayakawa, S. I., 104
riages, 15; portrayal of, in
Gypsy,
Hays Office, 86, 87, 88, 91, 165
168–69, 172–74
Head, Edith, 132
humor and striptease, 8, 44, 45–46,
Hecht, Ben, 156, 166
47, 73, 89, 108, 165, 171, 188–89
Hefner, Hugh, 166
Hunt, Brooke Busey, 6
Hollywood, 85–94;
Ali Baba Goes to
Town,
88–89;
Battle of Broadway,
93;
I Can Get It for You Wholesale
(Weid-
Belle of the Yukon,
147, 148–49; cen-
man), 125
sorship, 86–87, 88, 140, 148–49;
“I Can’t Strip to Brahms,” 131–32, 134
costumes, 149;
My Lucky Star,
94;
“I’m a Lonesome Little Eve,” 47–48
Screaming Mimi,
178;
Stage Door
International Longshoreman’s and
Canteen,
139–41; transcontinental
Warehousemen’s Union, 121
tour to redeem Hollywood fail-
Irving Place Burlesque Theatre,
ures, 95–96;
You Can’t Have Every-
43–49, 53–54
thing,
87, 88, 89
Holm, Celeste, 155
Jacobs, Laura, 40
homosexuality, 42, 59–60, 180
James, Charles, 128, 132, 133, 154,
Hopkins, Arthur, 100
156
Hopper, Hedda, 11, 23, 144, 146–47,
jewelry theft, 79–80
149, 153, 154
Josephson, Barney, 97
Hot-Cha,
36–37
Jowitt, Deborah, 171–72
Hovick, Jack (Gypsy’s father), 15
Juno
(film), 6
214
Index
Karinska, 132, 133
80–81, 96–97, 119, 121, 124, 144,
Kaufman, George S., 143, 144
183; photographs of,
17, 26, 64,
Kerr, Walter, 173
72,
82, 122, 129,
130, 152,
154–55,
Kirkland, Alexander “Bill,” 134–35,
176,
177;
physical appearance,
142, 147, 184
81–82; and politics, 52–53, 96–97,
Kirstein, Lincoln, 113
157–59; portrait of, 137–38; prod-
uct endorsements, 163, 180; in
Lady of Burlesque,
139
radio, 158; renaming herself,
La Guardia, Fiorello, 32, 83, 84, 96,
21–23; romantic relationships,
165
36–37, 39–40, 51–52, 109–11,
Lahr, Bert, 36, 102
147–48, 176 (
See also
Todd, Mike);
Landis, Carol, 90
and Royal American Carnival, 11,
Las Vegas, 156–57, 165
152,
153–55; and social satire,
Laurents, Arthur, 10, 39, 168, 169,
54–57; son (
See
Preminger, Erik
170, 171–72
Lee); in television, 151–52, 156,
Lee, Gypsy Rose (Rose Louise Hov-
159, 180–81; theft of jewelry from,
ick): American writers and, 49–51;
79–80; transcontinental tour,
as artist and art collector, 135–37;
95–96; and truthfulness of her
birth and childhood, 11–13, 15,
life story, 11–13, 62–63, 86, 169,
16–20,
17;
cancer diagnosis, 181,
185–86; and unions, 53, 159–60;
183; career overview, 8–9, 11–12;
on working hard, 170, 182; works:
comparisons and imitations, 57–59,
“Christmas on the Keith Family
60–61, 83–84, 127, 139, 141–42,
Circuit” (
Harper’s Bazaar
), 125–26;
150, 170, 176; death of, 184; fam-
Curious Evening,
174;
The G-String
ily, 13–15 (
See also
Havoc, June
Murders, 112,
119–20, 125, 126,
[Gypsy’s sister]; Hovick, Rose
127, 139, 145; guest column for
[Mama Rose]); homes, 35, 42–43,
Walter Winchell, 90, 108;
Gypsy
111, 113–16, 127–28, 175–76;
(autobiography), 166–68;
Mother
iconic status of, 3–4, 8; intelligence
Finds a Body,
135, 144–45;
The
of, 8, 19–20, 38–39, 74, 123–24,
Naked Genius,
142–45;
New Yorker
188–89; in Las Vegas, 156–57;
pieces, 145–46; “The Things I
lifestyle, 155–56, 157; marriages
Want,” 155; “What’s New in
(
See
de Diego, Julio; Kirkland,
War Wolves,” 138; as writer, 111,
Alexander “Bill”; Mizzy, Bob); at
112,
113–16, 123–26, 135, 142–46,
New York World’s Fair, 99–100,
166–68.
See also
Broadway and off-
106–8; night life and celebrity life
Broadway; burlesque; Hollywood
of, 79–82; and pets, 176,
177,
178;
Lenya, Lotte, 77, 179
philanthropy and war effort, 78,
Leonard, Ada, 87
215
Index
Lesser, Sol, 140
Muir, Jean, 158
Levy, Ariel, 7
Murrow, Edward R., 156
Levy, Julian, 99
Music Box Theatre, 129
Liebling, A. J., 80
My Ears Are Bent
(Mitchell), 50
Life,
55, 74, 75, 93, 119, 122, 134–35,
154–55, 160
The Naked Genius
(Lee), 142–45, 156
Lillie, Beatrice, 57, 84
Nathan, George Jean, 115, 119
Loos, Anita, 51, 156